The coal car that came with my 2025 (circa 50’s) was rewired and the whistle worked but the gauge of the wiring seemed too thick (18g) and it interfered with the truck movement. I rewired with thinner gauge(16?) and now it doesn’t work at all. Anyone have a diagram on how the wires should go and what gauge they should be? Also, I found it a tight fit to solder the side that accepts 2 wires so can they be soldered together to the truck or is there a separate connector for each.
You can get away with relatively small wire on these tenders. Even though the whistle draws a lot of current, it’s only for short times and it’s a short run. You can’t go TOO small, but 20AWG or even 22AWG is fine(don’t go TOO small or the whistle won’t work as well).
I’ve been buying silicone covered hook-up wire on Amazon for a year or two now. What I buy usually comes in a nice dispenser box with 6 spools, all different colors, and is anywhere from 25-100ft on a roll depending on gauge. What I like about it is it’s super fine stranded, comes pre-tinned(so solders very easily) and between the fine stands and silicone insulation it’s VERY flexible.
In any case, I find it easiest to remove the trucks completely. Depending on the vintage, they may be held on with a C-clip, a “horsehoe” clip that needs to be bent out to release the trucks, or maybe a screw. Once there, you have easy access to the top side of the rollers to solder to them.
I’m not aware of any Postwar tender where you need to solder two wires to one truck. Generally you just have wires to the pickup rollers-ground is via the frame. The two trucks join together at their solder point on the relay.
Well you’re super helpful, thanks. I found that my coal car is a 6466W (I think! it’s kinda faded) if that helps.
I understand about the wire going truck to truck but there is a wire from clip (not sure if that’s the correct term) on the plastic whistle housing that runs down through a hole in the frame to the truck? I think. So, that’s the 2nd wire I’m referring to. I THOUGHT?? that went into the truck also along with wire between the 2 ground rollers. Maybe I remember incorrectly. I’m sorry I’m so electrically ignorant. Maybe I wired wrong and the 2 wires together may be wrong. I thought when I went from the thicker to thinner wire I duplicated as it original was. (because the whistle worked fine) Like I said, I only changed the wires because I thought they were too thick and interfered with the trucks. So it worked before but when I rewired it didn’t. Sorry if I’m rambling.
Can you post photos of how it’s currently wired? Photos of the underside and with the tender shell would be helpful getting us all on the same page
I tried to send pictures but Im pretty computer illiterate at 80. I sent them to Trains.com. Was that right? I don’t see them here. I thought classic toy trains was a subset of trains .com. I’m new to the site so I appreciate any help where to send pics. Thanks
Since it was working, it can’t be that far off. Typically, there is one wire from each roller that goes through the hole in the center and BOTH wires go to the solder lug on top of the relay coil. If that’s not what you have, fix that first. If you do have the roller wires going there already, check that the small wire from the relay coil that also goes there is not broken.
This video has views of the tender open at about the 5 minute mark. He’s replacing everything, so after about the 7 minute point it’s meaningless to you.
Bill
Within 20 seconds of seeing the video I immediately recognized how wrong my wiring was! I had the screw under the plastic housing instead of over, and one of the two wires that should be attached to the screw was attached to the other truck! I corrected it and with 10 minutes I had a whistling tendor! I’m am grateful to all. This is a great site. I hope I don’t abuse the privilege because I have all kinds of questions.
Next I’ll be tackling re wiring the dried out broken wires of my uncouplers. Any hints on ensuring the connections in the remote match the connections to the track? I’m learning @ 80 y.o… Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?!
Jeff Kane sells the 4-conductor ribbon wire. His wire has a marking on one side, so you can tell which wire is which.
Depending on if you have a RCS, 1019, UCS, or 6019, the wiring will be a little different. The RCS and UCS are for O gauge track, the 1019 and 6019 are for O27 track. The RCS and 1019 are the earlier types, and do not have electromagnets in the middle. The UCS and 6019 have the electromagnet.
I have digital copies of the service manual pages, and can put up whichever relevant wiring diagrams you need.
-El
Glad you got your whistle back. The error would have been how it was connecetd at the screw. The wire from one truck to the other, then to the lug vs. a wire from each truck to the lug is electrically the same. I have seen a picture of a tender wired as yours was - truck to truck, then going inside. I always assumed it was just a rewired tender. Maybe some were actually wired that way at the factory.